Setting Aside Differences
by SamTarly
Summary: I've wanted to explore the Marcia/ Marcellus ship for a while now, and not finding any fanfic for the couple, I decided to write one myself. The story isn't complete, and I haven't decided what direction to take with it. Right now, I am open to letting this be just a romance story where M&M get together or a piece that explores more adult themes. Let me know what you guys prefer.
1. Chapter 1

Marcia Overstand was furious. With even more disregard than usual for the afternoon traffic of vendors and castle inhabitants returning for lunch, she stomped down Wizard's Walkway with her bright purple boots clicking menacingly every time they made contact with the cobblestone pavement.

"This is the last straw", she thought. It was the fourth time in just one week that Septimus had missed his ExtraOrdinary Wizard Apprentice duties because he was spending time with that no-good Alchemist. Although she was loth to admit it, and frequently claimed that she was just making sure Septimus's **Magykal** education was not tainted by all the nonsense that was **Alchemie** , she was just a little jealous of Marcellus's influence over Septimus, and sometimes feared that he preferred the company of the ancient Alchemist to hers. But regardless of whose company Septimus preferred, he had a duty to fulfill as the Extra-Ordinary Wizard's apprentice, and she was going to make sure he did so.

It wasn't long before she reached the red door that now housed the 500 year old man who had stolen her apprentice not too long ago. She banged the doorknocker loudly several times, and impatiently waited to give both Septimus and Marcellus a piece of her mind. She could hear some shuffling behind the door, and a voice tentatively shouted,

"Who is it?"

"You know very well who it is Marcellus, now open the door, I'm hear to see Septimus," Marcia said edgily. She could hear more shuffling and finally the door creaked open slightly.

A slightly surprised Marcellus looked stuck his head out between the gap and greeted the irate wizard at his door, as polite as ever, "Ah Marcia, what a pleasant surprise."

Marcia took in what she could see of the alchemist, his dark locks that were usually arranged immaculately, were disheveled and hung loosely around his neck, and he determinedly kept the door only a quarter open, so she could just see his disembodied head through the gap. She wondered why he just wouldn't open the door all the way. "Up to some **Darke** stuff no doubt", she thought.

Marcia clicked her tongue trying to peer in around the door, "Where's Septimus?" she demanded.

"I assure you he isn't here, Marcia," Marcellus replied, "I haven't seen my Apprentice in over a week."

Marcia snorted, "First, he's not _your_ Apprentice, and second, you mean to tell me that Septimus hasn't been sneaking around here neglecting his duties as the", and she put some emphasis here, "ExtraOrdinary Wizard's Apprentice?"

Marcellus frowned thoughtfully, "How often has Septimus been disappearing?"

Marcia was a little taken aback; she had expected Marcellus to continue lying to her about Septimus going over to his place, but the Alchemist's concerned face made her a bit worried. "About four times this week," Marcia replied.

Marcellus's frown deepened, he straightened his back and in the process opened the door more fully.

Marcia suddenly understood why the alchemist had kept the door so guardedly shut now that she could see his entire frame through the opening. Marcellus wasn't wearing his customary red and black Alchemist robes; in fact he really wasn't wearing much of anything besides a pair of cotton pajamas. On impulse, Marcia turned her head away, but then chided herself for her immature reaction. She was a grown woman and the ExtraOrdinary wizard to boot, a bare chest shouldn't embarrass her. So, she looked back determinedly at Marcellus who was still lost in thought and seemed to have forgotten about Marcia standing at his door.

"Well?" she asked abruptly, being embarrassed made her jumpy, and she wanted to end this conversation quickly so she could get the broad shoulders out of her sight.

Marcellus snapped out of his reverie, and rested his surprisingly well-toned arm against the doorframe. "I don't know what to say Marcia, it isn't like Septimus to blatantly flout his duties, he has always been most responsible."

"I agree", said Marcia, whose concern for her apprentice had momentarily banished the thought that Marcellus's body has a pleasant deep brown tone to it from her head. "Septimus can be a little careless, but I've never known him to deliberately disregard his education."

Just then, a female voice called from within Marcellus's house, "Marcellus darling, where are you?"

"Just a minute," Marcellus shouted over his shoulder.

Marcia looked stricken for a moment as she realized what was going on, but quickly rearranged her features and said a tad bit formally, "I didn't know you had company Marcellus, I apologize taking so much of your time."

Marcellus looked a little sheepish, "No, of course not Marcia, glad to be of help. Let me know if you hear of Septimus, I wouldn't be too worried, he's at that age when they rebel."

Marcia nodded, but not trusting her voice, she didn't say anything before turning around and walking away towards the Wizard Tower. She was much chagrined by the way she had handled that whole encounter. There was absolutely no reason for the weird feeling she had in the pit of her stomach right now, except maybe concern for her young apprentice. "Yes, that's what it is," she thought, "I'm just worried about Septimus."

But that didn't explain why every time she thought about Marcellus standing in that doorway that feeling in her stomach intensified.


	2. Chapter 2

Marcellus watched Marcia's retreating form as it cut through the afternoon traffic on the Wizard's Walkway. All the other pedestrians jumped out of her way, keeping a respectable distance between themselves and the imposing figure that was the ExtraOrdinary wizard.

Marcellus smiled as he saw this; of all the ExtraOrdinary wizards he had seen in his long lifetime, Marcia was the most striking. She embodied everything that one would expect to see in an ExtraOrdinary wizard; she was powerful, capable and beneficial to the Castle and its inhabitants. Eventually the crowd knitted back together and she disappeared from his view, with a sigh, Marcellus shut his door.

Dealings with Marcia always made him shaky. At first, when he had just come up to the surface after being an old man for over 400 years, he had thought this was because she was loud and always seemed to take up too much space, but even now, despite getting acclimated to the bustling Castle atmosphere and to his newfound youth, he still found that her presence made him a little jittery and nervous. He never seemed to do anything right when she was around. He shook his head, and then turned to go back to his room where the woman he had met at the Trader's Market a few days ago awaited him.

Marcia's day just seemed to get worse. Since he wasn't with Marcellus, she had expected Septimus to be back at the Wizard Tower with some silly excuse for missing his **Complex** charms lesson, but once she got there he was nowhere to be seen.

"Hildegarde," she shouted across to the Ordinary wizard scurrying past her hoping to go unnoticed.

Hildegarde turned around with a resigned expression on her face, "Yes Madam Marcia?" she asked dolefully.

"Have you seen Septimus at all today?" asked Marcia, ignoring Hildegarde's less than enthusiastic response.

"No, actually I haven't," said Hildegarde surprised. "Now that you mention it, he wasn't around today with the other apprentices during Tower morning meet."

Marcia knitted her eyebrows. "Well, this is very peculiar, thank you Hildegarde, let me know if you see anything" she said before walking away deep in thought.

Since the morning meets were usually before breakfast, she figured that Septimus had left not too long after sunrise, or, the possibility dawned on her, he might have just never returned to the Wizard Tower the night before. She regretted being so lax with Septimus's curfew as of late; she had thought he needed more freedom as he was growing up, but given today, that measure had obviously backfired.

She returned to her desk on the twentieth floor, and sat staring absentmindedly at the scrolls in front of her. People never realized just how much paper work went into in being an ExtraOrdinary wizard; every morning she was buried with a mountain of forms and petitions that needed her, and this always seemed to be the case, _immediate_ attention. Wizard Tower business, maintenance of the various **Magykal** sites throughout the Castle, making sure everything ran like clockwork, and the bulk of all this fell on her shoulders.

Marcia sighed, she loved her position as the ExtraOrdinary Wizard, the authority it came with, and the license and access it gave her to practice **Magyk** , but sometimes she wished there was more to her life than her **Magykal** career. While she was Alther's apprentice, she had quite a few friends among the other apprentices and also a few casual flings here and there. But in the years since she had succeeded Alther as the ExtraOrdinary Wizard, this group of friends thinned out and the flings evaporated entirely. Her position and her duty to the Castle consumed all her time and left her with no energy to pursue any romantic liaisons, provided, of course, that someone was brave enough to ask her out in the first place, which never happened to be the case. Her purple robes were very effective at deterring any potential suitors.

Breaking out of her musings, she looked out her window and saw that it was already dusk, but there was still no sign of Septimus. Any remaining anger she had towards her apprentice melted into anxiety. She knew Septimus was perfectly capable of looking after himself, but he was still young and at that reckless age when wizards, with their newly gained confidence in all things **Magykal,** began to experiment, and the fear that he had blown himself up doing something stupid began gnawing at her.

Just as she was about to get up to set up a **Seek** to find Septimus, there was a knock at her door. _Septimus!_ She breathed a sigh of relief and rushed up. She flung the door open in one swift motion and looked down, expecting to see the familiar face of her apprentice, but instead she was accosted by the figure of a man dressed in red and black robes with gold inlays.

"Marcellus," she said shortly, making no effort to cover her disappointment.

"Marcia," he replied with an old fashioned bow, "I came to inquire about Septimus's whereabouts, has he returned?"

Marcia shook her head. The Alchemist's question irritated her along with the fact that this was the second time she had to see him in one day. "At least he's dressed this time around", she thought. A flush stole over her cheeks as she remembered the afternoon and she turned away quickly to hide it.

"Ah, that can't be good" he said, not noticing her slightly reddened cheeks.

"Of course it isn't," she replied curtly, "even if he had decided to sneak away for the day he would have returned by now".

"You're right, of course. May I come in? It will be easier to discuss our plan of action inside instead of at the doorway."

She turned back around surprised. " _Our_ plan of action? I needn't remind you Marcellus that Septimus is no longer, and indeed never truly was, your apprentice. So if you'd excuse me, I was about to perform a **Seek** on Septimus," she finished haughtily and began shutting the door.

"No, wait," he exclaimed, propping his foot against the bottom of the door to keep it from closing. "I can help, we don't know what state he might be in right now, of course I hope he's fine, but in case he isn't, I am, well I used to be, the Castle Physician," he reasoned.

While she doubted that his **Physikal** ability would be of any use, Marcia's expression softened as she saw the concern in Marcellus's deep brown eyes. She knew he was just as worried about Septimus as herself, and so she let go of the door, albeit a bit begrudgingly.

Marcellus bowed again and smiled up at her, "Thank you Marcia."


	3. Chapter 3

Marcellus stepped over the threshold into her room and walked over to the fire. Marcia wasn't sure if he did it subconsciously or not, or if it had something to do with his nature as an Alchemist, but no matter where he was, Marcellus had a tendency to go straight to any source of fire in a room, not that she noticed of course.

"Do you have any thoughts on where he might be? It'll help me narrow the **Seek** and get a better range," she asked him trying to get some use out of him now that he was there.

Marcellus continued to look into the fire thoughtfully. "The Castle, perhaps? He and Jenna spend a lot of time together, maybe they got lost in one of the Castle rooms."

Marcia was pretty skeptical of the odds of Septimus with his Magykal abilities and Jenna with the knowledge of the Castle getting lost there, but in the spirit of compromise, she just nodded. There was no need to stir up an argument right now.

Marcellus turned his head and caught her nod to his statement. "Does anyone else know about the apprentice going missing?"

Marcia shook her head. "I haven't told any of the Heaps yet, if that's what you mean. I don't want to worry them needlessly, and you know how Sarah Heap gets", she said briskly.

Marcellus smiled; he knew exactly how Sarah Heap got.

Just as Marcia began walking towards her desk, there was another knock at her door. Astonished at the amount of traffic coming to her door that night, she walked over to open it, but this time kept her hopes that it would be Septimus standing on the other side to a minimum.

That was a wise decision on her part, because on opening the door, she saw, not her apprentice, but a short stocky boy she remembered seeing in the Manuscriptorium. Taken aback, she arched her eyebrow at the boy dressed in scribe robes.

Nervously, the boy cleared his throat and with an awkward bow began, "Madam ExtraOrdinary wizard, I came to see you as soon as I could, um we, I mean the other scribes, all of us went up to Beetle's, I mean the Chief Hermetic Scribe's rooms and we saw him and your apprentice…"

Marcia interrupted him. "Septimus? You know where he is?" she asked eagerly.

He nodded again with another nervous glance at her. "We don't know what's wrong with them, but I think…"

Marcia interrupted him again, "Foxy. It's Foxy isn't it?

He nodded.

"Well Foxy, get to the point, what's wrong with Septimus?" she asked impatiently. She was sure her worst fears would be confirmed, Septimus had done something stupid and now both him and Beetle were dead. She noticed that Marcellus was now standing right next to her in the doorway.

Foxy took a deep breath and continued, "Both him and Beetle were just slumped over Beetle's desk. We checked everything, they are breathing fine and their heartbeats are normal, but no matter what we did, they wouldn't wake up." With that, he shook his head and looked down.

A look of determination came over Marcia's face; at least he wasn't dead, which meant that something could be done. She clamped Foxy's hand, which startled the scribe, and said, "Come on, we have to go to him immediately."

Marcellus nodded as Marcia led the scribe out, and shut the door behind him.

Never in Wizard Tower history did the moving staircase whiz down so fast. Even though it was going its fastest at Emergency mode, something about Marcia's energy seemed to push the staircase further and it sped down to the tower doors in record time.

Both Marcellus and Foxy staggered as the stairs came to a halt, but Marcia, with her hand still clamped on Foxy's tightly, was already pulling him forward out of the Tower doors.

If anyone had looked out their window that night, they would have been met with the bizarre sight of the ExtraOrdinary Wizard pulling a grubby little scribe while the Castle Alchemist strode behind. But it was fairly late and most of the Castle inhabitants were either enjoying dinner with their families or taking an end of the day drink with their friends, so no one noticed the peculiar trio as it made its way to the Manuscriptorium.

The Manuscriptoirum looked oddly unfamiliar in the dark without its lights and the scribes working away diligently inside. Marcia looked at Foxy, who after a second of confusion exclaimed "Oh!" and pulled out his key to open the door. If the Manuscriptorium looked a little creepy on the outside, it looked completely unsettling on the inside. There was hush over the place and the air had an uneasy tinge to it. Marcia strode straight to the chambers of the Chief Hermetic Scribe upstairs and barged into the room startling the scribes who were hunched over the desk monitoring Septimus and Beetle.

They moved away to make room as Marcia and Marcellus rushed over to the two boys. Marcia's face paled as she saw Septimus sprawled over the desk lifelessly.

"Light some candles," Marcellus shouted over to the scribes as he bent over to examine Septimus. Seeing his apprentice in this unconscious state kicked in his physician instincts. He propped Septimus up, checked his pulse, and noted his breathing, but finding nothing amiss, he looked over to Marcia who was looking over anxiously. He shook his head, indicating that he couldn't find anything wrong. Marcia ran her fingers through her hair and began pacing while Marcellus went over to examine Beetle.

She looked at the table where the boys were sitting. Between them was a board game, not unlike the ones she had seen the younger Castle inhabitants playing with in the Ramblings. She walked over to examine it more closely; although it was set up like all the other games, it looked much older. A wooden box that was bordered by a series of delicate gold symbols encased it. The game itself had a circle in the center and a looping band that went around the board several times and ended at the circle. Something about the game seemed odd to Marcia, she got a sense of **Darkeness** from it. She moved away uneasily.

"Foxy", she looked over to the scribe who was standing in the doorway watching the two adults reverently.

"Yes Madam Marcia?" he asked startled.

"What's this game on the table?"

The scribes looked at each other nervously. Foxy cleared his throat and replied, "We are not really sure, to be honest. Beetle had found it last week in the Wild book and Charm store, and none of us know what to make of it." he stopped abruptly as this point.

Marcia raised her eyebrow, "And?"

"Well," continued Foxy with the air of someone who was about to give bad news, "Beetle couldn't open it, we tried everything. So last week he asked Septimus to come over to take a look at it, and they spent all week trying to figure it out, and I guess today they did." With this last dramatic statement, he looked down and stared determinedly at his shoes.

Marcia took a deep breath; a little bit of the anger she had felt towards Septimus came seeping back, he ought to have known better than to fool around with something that was so clearly **Darke**. But it also explained everything, the constant disappearances over the last week, the oddly vacant look he used to have in his eyes when she did see him. Marcia knew that some **Darke** objects could have a consuming effect and make the wizard who was unfortunate enough to encounter them obsessive to the point of madness. She knew it hadn't gone that far with Septimus, but the signs were still there.

"Marcia", Marcellus called over to her snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Yes?" she asked anxiously, hoping that Marcellus had, by some miracle, figured out how to fix the boys.

Marcellus looked over uncomfortably at the scribes bunched together at the doorway. He indicated at Marcia to come closer.

Ruffled that Marcellus was playing silly games during this dire situation, she walked over irritably and stood over him with her arms crossed.

Marcellus got a bit flustered just then; Marcia always made him nervous, but an angry Marcia almost terrified him, even though he took great care to never show it. "There's a problem", he whispered slowly not wanting the scribes to overhear.

"What is it?" Marcia's anger dissolved and she bent down to hear the Alchemist better.

"At first impression, their heart rates feel fine, but as I have listened to them over these last five minutes, it is almost imperceptible, but their heart rates are slowing down."

"Are you absolutely sure?" Marcia asked.

"Of course I'm sure," replied Marcellus affronted. "I have studied **Physik** even more extensively than you have studied **Magyk** Marcia, I think I am _absolutely_ sure".

Marcia was taken aback at the vehemence of his response. Marcellus was usually very polite even in the face of provocation. She was almost about to apologize, but then though the better of it. She didn't want him to think that he had got to her.

"Is there anything you can do to stop it?" she asked instead.

Marcellus shook his head. "This isn't a physiological ailment, this is the influence of **Darke** magyk, and we have to tackle that to fix them."

Marcia eyed the game again; she wondered how the boys had managed to open it. She flicked her eyes up to look at Marcellus, who was staring at her face as though he had been told to memorize it, something about that made a little color rush up to her cheeks, despite the strained circumstances. She immediately looked down. He was right though; the only way to bring back her apprentice and Beetle was to defeat the game, which obviously had some sort of **Hold** over the boys, but the problem was, she had no idea how.

Marcia straightened up and sighed again, wishing that the solution would just appear in her head, and just then from the corner of her eyes, she saw one of the game pieces move. She almost squealed.

"Did you see that?" she asked Marcellus excitedly.

Marcellus followed her gaze at looked blankly at the board, "I don't see anything Marcia. Do you perhaps want to sit down?" he asked kindly, thinking that the stress of the night had finally got to her.

"Oh don't be daft," she said shortly, "one of the game pieces, it just moved."

Marcellus looked over at the board again, and realized that she was right. One of the game pieces, which had been by Septimus's elbow had now progressed further on the board. He looked at Marcia puzzled.

"How did that happen?"

Marcia frowned. She could almost feel the thought forming in her head. "What if the boys are still playing the game?"

Marcellus was at a loss. "How do you mean?"

Marcia almost questioned herself, the thought she had was just so far-fetched, but she continued nonetheless, "what if the boys' essence is somehow trapped within the game? And somehow they are actually playing from the inside." She knew she wasn't doing the best job of explaining idea.

But to her surprise, Foxy jumped in, "I have never seen them, but I have actually heard of games like that."

"Would you care to elaborate further Foxy?"

Disconcerted at having all eyes on him for the third time in just one night, Foxy continued a little hesitatingly, "I had learned about them during our scribe exams when we had to make a list of all items that could potentially be enchanted. They are like regular games but **magykal,** and instead of just rolling the dice and moving around the board, the players actually live out the game scenarios."

"Live them out how? Please explain," Marcellus requested.

"I'm not really sure," Foxy replied shrugging his shoulders, "but I think the game pulls them into another dimension where the world is shaped by the game and only the game's rules exist."

Several thoughts went thought Marcia's head as Foxy finished speaking. "Marcellus," she said, "How long do the boys have?"

Surprised that Marcia was actually asking him something and acknowledging his expertise, he replied after thinking for a few seconds, "my conservative estimate would be five days, after that the boys condition will rapidly worsen."

Marcia nodded. "Okay, this is what's going to happen, I'm going to join in that game, I am going to go inside it, and I am going to bring Septimus and Beetle back."

Marcellus gaped at her; from the corner of his eye he saw that the scribes had had a similar reaction. "Marcia, you can't," he protested, "it's too dangerous, and you don't know what you'll be going into."

Marcia looked at him with a resolute look in her eye, "Marcellus, I have a responsibility to Septimus, he is in my care and I have sworn to protect him. I will not let a stupid game take my apprentice from me." She looked around, daring anyone to challenge her. No one did.

Marcellus stood up and looked her in the eye. He had a concerned look on his face, but at the same time, he didn't seem like he was about to convince her to change her mind. Even with her heeled python boots, he was a few inches taller than her, and now that he was standing closer, she had to look up at him a little.

"Marcia, I understand that this is your decision to make, so I'm not going to say anything to dissuade you, but," he continued, "I'm coming with you."

He held his hand up as he saw that she was about to protest, and said, "he is my apprentice also, and I owe Septimus my youth and my immortality, so like you, I have to do this."

Marcia didn't look convinced. Taking an Alchemist with her was not her idea of an ideal rescue mission.

Seeing her hesitation, Marcellus added, smiling, "well, my abilities in all things **Darke** could also come handy."

Reluctant as she was to have an Alchemist with her, Marcia saw the logic of his suggestion. She knew only a little about **Darke magyk** as it was not something that wizards were taught anymore, and going into an unknown **Darke** game, she would need all the resources she could get.

"Fine," she conceded not too graciously.

Marcellus looked relieved. "Thank you Marcia," he said, smiling down at her.

With that, they wasted to time in moving over to where the two boys were sitting and examining at the game together. Marcia found the dice hidden between Septimus's fingers and palm, which had formed a loose fist. She gently pried it form his hand and looked at it; there was a tiny and barely readable **Reverse** incantation on it:

 **"** **dneirf ro eof, lla yalp eno yalp, dne eno htiw emag a ot won eeht egnellahc I"**

Marcia reached over the table and put her hand in Marcellus's, who looked absolutely startled at the gesture. She then indicated the incantation on the dice. He nodded as he realized that they had to hold hands and read the incitation together. For a second he was almost disappointed.

They looked at each other, and then began reading the miniscule writing on the dice.

The scribes watched as the Extraordinary Wizard and the Castle Alchemist slowly collapsed into a deep stupor.


	4. Chapter 4

Marcia opened her eyes and blinked. Her head was resting against the table, and she realized her hand was in resting in Marcellus', she quickly pulled it away. Nothing had changed; they were still in the same room, sitting on the same table. _Dammit, it didn't work_.

She straightened her back and looked around again, and an eerie feeling enveloped her. Something was different. None of the scribes were there anymore and neither were Septimus and Beetle, but the game was still there, almost looking up at her mockingly. She tried to shake off her nerves, "this is a good thing," she thought, "at least this worked."

She noticed Marcellus stirring as she stood up and surveyed the room again in case she missed something. He sat up with a sigh and pushed his hair back from his face.

"How do you feel?" he asked, his voice hoarse.

"My head feels a little heavy, but otherwise fine," she replied.

"It worked then, didn't it?" he asked looking around the room.

"I suppose so," she replied curtly as she walked back to the table, her movements jerky and nervous, and bent over the game trying to make out the tiny inscriptions on its side.

"Marcia," he said.

She looked up at Marcellus, who was watching her steadily.

"It's okay", he said softly, not moving his eyes from her face, "he's fine, they're both fine, I can feel it."

Marcia resisted the urge to scoff, but she realized he was right, she felt it too. It wasn't proper **Magyk** but Alther had taught her during her first year as an apprentice that when two people have a bond, they could sense each other. It is usually almost imperceptible and disappears altogether if you focus too hard on it, but she definitely felt it right then about Septimus. The realization renewed her vigor to find her missing apprentice.

She replied with a smile and said, "well, then we have to find him then don't we?"

Marcellus nodded and returned her smile.

They stepped out of the Manuscriptorium and were immediately hit by a wave of bitterly cold wind. Marcia wrapped her cloak around her even tighter; she wasn't dressed for this weather, her snakeskin boots threatened to freeze her toes if she stayed out a second longer.

She looked over at Marcellus, and he looked a lot worse than she did. The Alchemist kept a fire on even in the summer; obviously this weather wasn't his cup of tea, she almost felt tempted to give him her cloak. Almost.

Just as she was about the take another step Marcellus pulled her back into the Manuscriptorium and shut the door.

"What?" she asked surprised.

"We should probably think of a plan before we go out wandering in that cold," he replied.

Marcia raised her eyebrow skeptically, she was quite positive that Marcellus just wanted to avoid the cold.

He noticed that look on her face and continued in an attempt to convince her.

"We really don't know what's out there, and you and I can both sense the **Darkeness** in the air."

There she knew he was right, the feeling of **Darkeness** was almost suffocating, and she knew the more time they spent in the alternate realm, the weaker her **magyk** would become, which was all the more reason to set out on their search immediately. She was just about to explain this to Marcellus, when she noticed something at the corner of her eye.

Nestled neatly on the table behind Marcellus was the game that she was sure they had left upstairs.

"Marcellus, you didn't bring the game down with you, did you?" she asked in a steady voice.

"No," he replied, surprised. And then following her gaze, he turned his head and saw the board game set innocuously behind him. He turned back to her and said grimly, "well, I guess we have to go see what it wants."

Marcia nodded, and walked over to it in her usual confident strides.

Looking at the game, they noticed that the dice were now neatly set by the game pieces, as though demanding to be rolled by the first player.

Marcia touched the dice tentatively, and looked up at Marcellus.

"I wonder what would happen if we just refused to play this?" she asked him.

He looked down thoughtfully, "Well, that reverse incantation we read seemed binding, so I don't think we could leave this realm until we fulfilled what we said we would do, which is play the game."

Marcia nodded, "I suspected as much." She looked up at him and smiled, "So, I guess I'll go first," and without waiting for a response, she rolled the dice.

Marcellus's heart skipped a few beats, partly from a sense of fear and partly, well mostly, because of the way Marcia had just smiled at him. He really wished she wouldn't do that; over the years he had carefully cultivated the aura of an in-control and mysterious alchemist, but being around her he felt like a stammering schoolboy playing dress up.

He watched the dice as they rolled across the board, and it felt like an eternity until they rolled to a stop. A four and a three. A small purple piece, which he assumed was Marcia's, slowly moved forward seven steps on its own. If he wasn't so worried, it would have been a funny sight, watching that piece hobble across the board, but now it only seemed ominous. When the piece reached its designated spot, there was a soft rustling noise.

He and Marcia both looked down on the board as the inscriptions on the side began to glow and rearrange themselves, and before long, they formed a message on the side of the board, written in reverse, which Marcellus, with his experience with Darke, quickly translated:

" **They are creatures big and small,**

 **But could we call them creatures at all?**

 **Capture one, player, and find out,**

 **Otherwise there won't be a next bout."**

He looked up at Marcia after he finished reading, and she stared back at him just as surprised and said,

"But what on earth could it be talking about?"

He shook his head, just as confused as her.

And then he heard the footsteps.


	5. Chapter 5

Marcia felt a cold shiver go down her back. She could hear the soft rustle of hundreds of tiny footsteps determinedly making their way to where she and Marcellus were standing. There was nothing she hated more than small creatures, of any kind, from bugs to small rodents. Most of the reason why she insisted on wearing snakeskin boots, aside from the fashion statement they made, was because she was convinced that any creepy crawly looking at them would be reminded of its long feared predator and give her a wide berth, but in this case, the tiny pattering footsteps showed no sign of abating.

Unwillingly, Marcia turned her head around to confront whatever was walking towards her. She could dimly make out red points in the distance, which she assumed were the creatures' eyes, and then quite suddenly, almost as though they crossed the threshold into the visible world, the creatures became discernable. The little light in the room reflected off the black slime that seemed to cover very inch of these two-foot creatures, except for their eyes that glinted a menacing red in the darkness. They looked vaguely human, walking on two legs with hands on either side of them, but that's where the resemblance ended. There was something eerie about their unsteady gait, as though each limb on their body was being pulled in a different direction by an unseen force.

Marcia shuddered and found herself, quite unconsciously, taking a step closer to Marcellus, whose six-foot frame seemed like reasonable protection against the creatures as they slowly made their way towards the duo.

"Do you…" she began, and realized her voice was unusually high pitched, she quickly cleared her throat, "do you know what they are?" she asked in a slightly more normal voice, and looked up at him.

His mouth was a tight line, and he nodded, without turning away from them.

"We should go," he said firmly, and without waiting for a reply grabbed her wrist and started running towards the stairs.

The force of his reaction startled Marcia, and as they made their way back to the room where they had started, she took a quick glance down. From a distance it looked as though black sludge was slowly carpeting the floor of the Manuscriptorium, and a feeling of dread unsettled her stomach. How long would it be before the creatures reached them up there?

Marcellus quickly barricaded the door and then grabbed the nearest chair and propped it against the handle. He turned to look at Marcia, who was watching his actions in confusion.

The pale light coming through the window settled on her face, which was slightly flushed face from the running, and Marcellus found himself gaping at her, until she snapped him out of it with an impatient, "so are you going to tell me what those are?"

Her words abruptly brought him back to the present situation, and he made a few incoherent noises before finally pulling himself together and whispering, "the **Goraths.** "

Marcellus watched as the flush on Marcia's face drained away.

Almost everyone in the wizarding world assumed that the goraths were a myth, but Marcellus knew better, he had seen their dark forms before, during one of his alchemy expeditions. Sometimes he hoped he had just dreamt them.

They were among the Darkest of creatures, and as legend had it, they were a product of the sacrifices that **Darke** practitioners would make of unsatisfactory apprentices or even local villagers. The **Darkeness** would slowly strip these people of their humanity and reduce them into something not unlike itself, soulless and foul. It was believed that these creatures would creep up on unwitting travelers or anyone they happened to chance upon, and torture them over a period of months until they too, maddened out of everything that made them human, joined the ranks of the **goraths**.

"We can't touch them either you know," he said, walking over to her, " touch them once and the black slime will contaminate you."

Marcia frowned, "can you even be sure they are goraths? I thought they were just a part of the Castle's old wives tales, even the wizard tower library has nothing on them."

Marcellus shook his head gravely, "there are many things that never made their way to the wizard tower library or were removed from it. But in my days, we had more travelers and traders from far lands, and there were some who brought with them tales of **Darke** children. Julius Pike laughed them off as figments of the foreigner's overactive imaginations, but as an alchemist, I know of things that exist within realms that we can't see and **Magyk** can touch."

He saw Marcia raise her eyebrow, as she always did whenever he compared **Magyk** to Alchemy, her expression almost disbelieving. She looked down, deep in thought, and Marcellus sighed; he needed to convince her of this. The last thing he wanted was for her to march down there in her usual fashion and grab one of the creatures like the game asked. What if she got **taken** by one of them? The thought filled him with hollow dread. No, he couldn't let that happen.

Just as he was about to relaunch into an explanation about how dangerous the creatures were, Marcia looked up at him, her green eyes looked dark in the dimly lit room.

"Well, if we can't touch them, then how on earth are we going to capture one?" she asked.

Despite the dire situation, Marcellus smiled. This was probably the first time he convinced Marcia of something in less than fifteen minutes.

"I'm not sure," he replied, shrugging his shoulders, "we'll need something that's impenetrable."

Marcia thought for a second, and Marcellus noticed the expression one her face change to one that he had come to associate with grim resolution. She untied the strings of her cloak, pulled it off, and handed it to him saying, "this'll do the trick."


End file.
